


Snowed In

by AliceInWanderland



Category: Original Work
Genre: Corvus really like Lee's hair for some reason, F/F, I wrote this last night don't hurt me, Mercenaries, Tumblr Prompt, too lazy/tired to edit it properly, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 06:46:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8002450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceInWanderland/pseuds/AliceInWanderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a prompt by my boyfriend: Two characters get stuck in a cabin, with no electricity, in a snowstorm.<br/>Lee and Corvus got along well on missions, so it was only natural they pair up for this assassination. Neither are particularly fond of the cold, but at least their client provided them with a cabin and supplies. Both too tired to really care, they don't notice the snowstorm until the next morning, when it blocks them in. Neither brought much to do, and Corvus has a weird fondness for Lee's hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowed In

**Author's Note:**

> I was bored last night, and posted prompt requests on Tumblr. I got one, and everything went downhill from there. I know this is an unedited mess, so please forgive me for that. If I tried to edit it, I wouldn't post it. So I'm posting this really quickly before I can change my mind. Feel free to leave criticism, I need to get back into writing.

Lee's breath came in soft puffs, barely audible through the respirator as they trudged through the ankle-deep snow. Corvus glanced back occasionally, having taken point. She huffed out a laugh into her scarf.

"Come on, Lee. Not much farther. Then we can rest and you can take that thing off." Corvus murmured encouragingly. Lee arched a pale eyebrow, but chose not to reply. Neither mercenary was particularly chatty, meaning their assignments were often more silent than normal. Corvus' eyes crinkled in a smile, finally spotting the cabin. She shook herself, white flakes scattering around her. Both women picked up their pace, eager to get out of the snow. Even in snow camoflauge they were still afraid of being spotted. The snow swirled around them, the cold biting at Corvus' exposed skin. She could only imagine Lee's discomfort, the metal pressed so close to her skin and her robotic arm.

Not for the first time since they had been assigned this mission, Corvus questioned why their employer would sent someone from Death Valley and the one mercenary that had prosthetics to the Arctic Freakin' Circle.  She sighed heavily, producing a key from her pocket and unlocking the small cabin. With some relief, she noted the supplies on the floor and ushered Lee in before locking the door behind them. Immediately, Lee hurried to the fireplace and began the process of starting a fire, the unspoken order hanging in the air. _'Secure the area.'_ Corvus drew her pistol and knife, ignoring the biting cold of the metal as she carefully searched the small cabin. One bedroom, two small beds on opposite walls. An attached bathroom, a room containing more supplies, and the kitchen that was open to the entryway. Lee had seated herself on the ground, tugging off her jacket and gloves, pulling at the respirator. Her robotic fingers slipped over the cold metal before finally catching and pulling it off. A cloth was drawn from her pocket to clean the vital equipment.

"Area secure. There are more supplies in the back, in addition to a stockpile of firewood and the generator. There seems to be enough gas to last us for the mission," Corvus reported automatically as she began to remove her outerwear until she was just in tight-fitting jeans and a tank top. She couldn't stand the feeling of fabric on her burn scars any longer than she had to. They trailed all the way up her left arm and partially onto her neck and shoulder. Lee barely glanced at the injury, having been the one to treat it in the field.

"Wonderful. The intel we fed them should bring them here within three days. I'll scout the KZ tomorrow and set up a nest," Lee's voice used to be smooth, but whatever happened to her in Switzerland had ruined that. Corvus' heart clenched at the memory. The two women were a team, both having the augments. Corvus brushed her fingers over her scarred scalp, half of it bald, black hair brushing her jaw on the other half. The procedure had almost failed, thanks to the bullet in her temple at the time-- a story left untold.

Nightshade, their 'company', was nothing if not thorough with their mercenaries. Trained and groomed, the best they could find were given augments to specialize them further. Lee was outfitted with the Sniper augments. The technical details were lost on Corvus, but it turned Lee into an impossibly good shot with her rifle. Her hands never even hinted at shaking, her eyesight sharpened beyond their natural capabilities. Her heartrate could even be slowed if she entered in a code onto her prosthetic arm. It would only work for a minute, she had once explained. Any longer and it ran the risk of killing her.

Corvus had been fitted with Soldier implants. Her reaction time was faster, her perception heightened. Her senses refined until she was acutely aware of small details. She was Lee's protection on these jobs. Her only task this next week was to keep Lee safe, and let her line up one shot. Any others would be made by Corvus' shotgun, currently propped against the cabinets.

Lee sighed and shivered, rubbing at her right shoulder where flesh met metal. "I'm going to kill Erik. He didn't even give me any cold-resistant buffering on this thing," she complained, looking tempted to thrust her arm into the flames.

Corvus arched a dark brow, weaving through the minor obstacles until she could drop down behind Lee and push the silver hair over her shoulder. Another mystery from Switzerland left unsolved. The older of the two, by only a year, turned her head at the sudden touch. "Quit complaining, I'll rub the back. Check on your wrist and finger joints for ice." She ordered gently, helping tug off her jacket and vest until she was also in a tank top. The sight was hardly a shock to her anymore, the mess of scarred flesh and metal in stark contrast with smooth, pale skin. Corvus' own hands were darker, tanned from all her time in Turkey. She smoothed her palm over the connection point, flinching at the feeling of cold metal. Lee pretended not to notice, or smile, as she bent her head over her hand and began the tedious process of caring for the joints.

They lapsed into an easy silence, comfortable rather than their normal quiet. Corvus had somehow shifted from rubbing the connection point to kneading the knots out of her upper back, and Lee was simply relaxing under the touch. Neither had noticed the flurry picking up outside, their tracks covered under over a foot of snow now. Corvus, seemingly satisfied with Lee's relaxed and pliant state, pulled her hair back into place and began to run her fingers through the soft strands.

Normally protective of her hair, Lee would have snapped at anyone who tried to touch it, so this was testament to how out of it she was. Even more startling, she leaned into the gentle touch.

That was simply how things were. Lee, often aloof and cold, was far more open and warm around Corvus. Corvus herself was impulsive, and hotheaded, but found it much easier to relax and calm herself around Lee.  They tolerated touches that would normally lead to someone almost getting punched or stabbed. Sophie, a fellow Soldier that they had worked with in Australia, had offered to 'grab them some condoms, maybe a snack' more than once, cackling as she avoided Lee's boot flying at her head. They were _not_ together.

Right?

Corvus hummed in thought. Did Lee even like women? Corvus was pretty sure the sniper had never mentioned a relationship in all their years under Nightshade. Erik was unwilling to say anything about Lee to others, knowing she had a lot of trust in him. He was the only one allowed to treat her when Jane and Sophie carried a Lee into their camp, shouting for everyone to clear out. All Lee had managed to get from Sophie was that they had wrapped Lee in a curtain while transporting her. Jane had died a week later, taking a bullet meant for her team's medic.

Satisfied with the current state of her partner, Corvus rose and offered a hand to Lee. She took it, her flesh hand cool and rough against Corvus' skin. "Let's get some sleep. You've got a nest to build, birdie." She ordered playfully. Lee only shot her an echo of her normal glare at the nickname, but padded after and curled up on her cot tightly. Corvus shook her head, and checked the generator's fuel before crawling into the other cot, gun on a small table by her head.

With ease that only came with practice, the two slipped into a dreamless sleep. Unaware to them, the storm had picked up and snow brushed against the covered window as it piled up.

When they awoke, Corvus watched Lee rise and change robotically. The tank top was switched for a dark t-shirt, pants traded for warmer ones. She made to follow suit, but the cold hit her skin and she cursed softly. “How are you tolerating this?”

“I don’t complain as much as you,” Lee teased, grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her shoulders. “I’m going to make coffee. Get dressed, and find something we can eat for breakfast.” Lee turned away and headed towards the cabin’s little kitchen silently. Corvus groaned, but dressed herself and mimicked Lee’s blanket cape, padding into the supply room. She poked through various rations, finally settling on some American MRE’s that didn’t sound _too_ terrible. Turning on her heel, she hesitated when Lee’s angry cursing made it to her. The soldier shook herself, hurrying to the kitchen only to pause in the short hallway.

“What’s the matter?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at the sniper. Lee had started a fire, thankfully, and the warmth was already seeping into her bones, but the irritation on her face was uncharacteristic.

“Coffee pot’s not working,” was the growled answer. The sniper flipped her hair out of her face with a huff, checking around the kitchen. “Nothing electrical is working. Generator must be out of gas,” she sighed, brushing past Corvus, having to tilt her body to slide past in the narrow space. The soldier’s fingers twitched, barely able to suppress the urge to catch a thin wrist and pull her close. With another shake, Corvus entered the main room of the cabin and set their meals on a low table, drawing the curtains open.

“Lee. We have a problem.” She called, just as Lee stalked into the room.

“The generator’s busted. I can’t fix it, either.” Lee suddenly froze, staring at the window. Where weak morning light should be filtering through, there was only darkness, and a barely visible white haze at the top.

“We’re snowed in.” The pair both groaned, Lee swearing quietly as she sat down across from Corvus.

They checked the other two windows, and the door. The door would not budge, and the windows were equally dark. A drift, most likely. Resigned, the mercenaries sat in front of the fire as they ate. “The client will not be happy…” Lee mused after a sip of the sludge that the MRE called coffee. “We’ll likely be stuck for at least two days, unless weather turns. And we have no way of reaching the client, or adjusting the leak.” She ran her flesh hand through her hair with a sigh, draining the last of her coffee and stuffing all the garbage into the MRE’s bag.

“What do we do then?” Corvus frowned, never fond of downtime. Especially when they should be working. She stretched her legs out with a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know. I didn’t bring a book, because I thought we would be in and out quickly. There wasn’t anything in the supply room?”

“No. Only medical supplies, ammunition, food, fuel, and the like. Essentials. No luxuries.” She answered with an annoyed huff.

“Then it looks like we’re at an impasse.” Lee rose gracefully, fetching a brush from her bag.

“Is it okay if I do your hair?” The question, often though, was suddenly voiced and Corvus clamped her hands over her mouth. That was not her planned response. To her credit, Lee didn’t react one way or another, almost like she hadn’t heard.

Then the brush was being offered over, Lee pointedly not meeting the surprised look. Corvus took it after a moment’s hesitance. Lee sat down in front of Corvus, glancing back. “Is right here okay? Or do I need to move?”

The question seemed to shake Corvus out of her confusion, and she shook her head—a little too quickly for her tastes. “N-no. Right there is fine.” She finally bit out, gathering all of the silvery hair and bringing it behind Lee’s back, carefully working out the knots with only a few winces on Lee’s part; Corvus had never had hair long enough to tangle, and Lee was forced to direct her gently on how to work them out.

They lapsed into another silence, Lee relaxing under the touch. Corvus knew Lee would realize her hair was untangled and smooth, running down her back like quicksilver. She found herself running her fingers through the strands, jealous of its length. Not for the first time, she ran a hand over the smooth half of her scalp self-consciously. Lee’s hair was impractical in its length, but she kept it tight or tucked away on missions normally. Corvus had never seen her with her hair down casually. Her own hair was kept short to keep it from interfering with close-quarters combat. Enemies could not get a solid grip on it, and it stayed away from her eyes to keep her from losing precious milliseconds in a fight.

“Why do you keep it so long?” Corvus asked softly, brushing her fingers through it to separate it into three strands to braid.

“Mm?” It took a moment for Lee to register the question, apparently lost in her own thoughts. “I like it. Even if the color is a result of… Events,” she avoided the topic as best she could, “I almost shaved my head when the brown finally had to be cut off. I wore a hat until I could get to the store and get a razor, but by then they had me seeing a shrink. It was either accept it, waste money and time dyeing it, or shave it every time I started seeing it. I was already a freak, with my respirator and my arm. They only made me more intimidating to clients and others mercs. And, as I found out, targets. Nightshade has my unofficial title set to ‘Silver Bullet’ now, rather than ‘Eagle Eye’.” She frowned. “I’m not really sure that was even a good answer. The length is just a result of me being a stubborn ass, mostly. I couldn’t cut it short easily, and I don’t want people touching it.”

Corvus hummed, listening intently. She finished the braid with a nod, watching Lee reach back to touch her hair.

“I’m making you braid this next time I go on a mission. It’s much nicer than my usual method,” the sniper decided. “You have no choice.”

That prompted a laugh from the soldier, and she barely stopped herself from pulling the shorter mercenary into her lap. “I suppose I can live with that, Lee.” She undid the braid slowly, eager to keep playing with Lee’s hair as long as she would tolerate it.

Minutes passed in easy silence, the fire the only sound in the small cabin. Eventually, though, Lee turned to face Corvus, settling back on her heels. “What is with you and my hair?” She finally asked, tilting her head curiously.

The soldier felt her face heat up, suddenly finding the darkened window interesting. “It’s…. It’s really soft and long. I like the way it feels,” she said lamely, cringing at her own words.

Lee’s smile took her by surprise. “Eloquent,” she teased, flicking a stray strand out of her eyes. “I don’t mind it, but I need to add a log to the fire. You can play with it after I finish,” she added, rising and disappearing behind Corvus.

Corvus dropped her head into her hands with a long, muffled groan. Of all the things she could have said, it had to be that. She was an _idiot_. Now Lee probably thought she was creepy and weird, even if she had poked fun at Corvus.  

That was how Lee found Corvus when she returned with some more logs. She said nothing, simply adding the log and poking at it with the rod until it caught fire. “So, why are you moping?” Lee asked, looking down at the soldier.

“’M sorry, ‘M an idiot.” Came the muffled response, Corvus unwilling to look up from her personal shame prison.

“Corvus,” Lee’s voice was surprisingly firm, and got the soldier to look up. “I… I’m terrible at this. I _like_ it when you play with my hair. It’s… Nice.” She finished, letting her hands fall as she shrugged, flopping down with none of the grace Corvus knew she possessed.

“We’re both bad at this whole talking thing.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t know about you, but I was given to Nightshade around eight years old. I never learned this whole ‘talking to people’ concept.” Lee tried to defend herself. That was an interesting tidbit of information Corvus filed away. Eight years old?

“Fifteen. I’m just bad at it.” Corvus shrugged.

They lapsed into silence once more, both staring at the fire. They had been awake for barely three hours, but the time seemed irrelevant while they were stuck. Lee retrieved some pills from her bag, swallowing them with a cringe.

Several more minutes passed, Lee trying the door unsuccessfully. Finally, she sat down once more with distant look in her eyes.

Corvus frowned, scooting across the blankets to be a little closer to Lee. To her relief, the sniper didn’t react beyond glancing at her curiously. “Look. Lee, we’re a good team. I… Don’t want to change that,” her words were halting, each one planned as she spoke. “Sophie was talking to me a few weeks ago, while we were in Turkey, and I kept complaining about the sniper they gave us. Turkish military, don’t remember his name.  She finally had enough and made me explain every complaint, rather than brushing me off. They all centered around the fact that he… he didn’t do things like you. His nest was wrong, the orders wrong. I’m used to _you_. I thought it was just because you’re my main teammate, but then I noticed I was angry with things he did out of combat. He didn’t organize things like you, so nothing was easy to find. The tent was too empty.” The two often shared a tent, to spare them the weight. “I would wake up and ask where the coffee was. Sophie finally told me ‘your wife isn’t here. Calm down.’ That’s kinda when I realized, I need you. You… You became a part of me.” She looked away, expecting to be yelled at or for Lee to back away.

Instead, Lee snorted to hold back a laugh. “I guess we are like an old married couple, aren’t we?” The question hung in the air, not meant to have an answer.

It was agreement, in a sense of speaking. Lee’s affirmation of their closeness. “Do you want to try? I know we’re mercs, and teammates, and they don’t like us having relationships within Nightshade, but….” Corvus trailed off. This was strange and fast, but it was something that had been hanging over her head for a while.

Lee was silent for a great many moments, each one making Corvus’ heart race and clench in fear.

“Yes.” The word was whispered, almost too quietly for even the soldier’s ears. Lee pressed a little closer to her, and the tension drained out of Corvus’ shoulders. “I want to try. You’re the only person I ever trust at my back. I know you’re there, keeping an eye on me while I take aim. You know my weaknesses and when to push me back or stop my shot.” For Lee, it was as close to admitting her attraction as she could get. She tensed as Corvus draped an arm around her, but relaxed as it pulled her closer.

“Mm. C’mere, you feel cold.” Corvus mumbled, smiling slightly as Lee rest her head on her shoulder. “You know, this means you have to break up with Erik,” she teased. The sniper rolled her eyes.

“He’s my _doctor_. I am not with him.” She protested, though it lacked the normal bite. “You have nothing to be jealous of.” The tease was added almost hesitantly, Lee still trying to analyze things.

“Does he get to play with your hair?” Corvus brushed a hand through it as she spoke, noting Lee’s amusement at the touch.

“You are the only person other than myself that touches my hair beyond moving it to check my shoulder port,” she assured, wrapping her real arm around Corvus and just reveling in the touch.

Quiet hung around them once more, but this time it was comfortable. Two mercenaries—no, two women—sitting together and simply reveling in the gentle touch.

It wasn’t love, Corvus mused as she brushed her lips against Lee’s hair, not yet. For now, it was companionship.


End file.
